'Prince Wichit and Princess Sno' from Folktales of Thailand
The battle between good and evil, astrologers and a secret medicine. Prince and princess who finally find each other. All's well that ends well.
Prince Wichit was the son of the princes of Nakon Noparat. After his birth, the court astrologer was consulted and he was shocked. According to him, the prince had killed a divine 'Naga', snake, in a previous life. This act would haunt the prince for the rest of his life; at one point he would remain dead for seven years but be saved by a princess he was to marry.
The princes raised him with love and care. Yet, that day, Prince Wichit was sitting on a stone in the garden and a snake had left poison there. He touched the poison and fell dead. The astrologer advised the parents to keep the prince's body in a sala in the garden. There it lay for seven years and the forest angels guarded it. The prince looked as fresh and handsome as if he were alive….
Lady Fortune and Prince Wichit….
In the nearby kingdom of Romanasai, the king and queen had a daughter. During the birth, courtiers had a vision: they saw the princess being born in a beautiful cottage made of the soft, fragrant leaves of the Sno plant. Musicians played a song and the baby girl laughed…
Her parents called her Princess Sno Noi Ruan Ngam or Little Sno of the Pretty House. She grew up to be a beautiful woman of 15 years old and then the court astrologers were asked to predict her marriage and future. But they were astounded after their calculations: 'King, Princess Sno brings bad luck to everyone here unless you banish her immediately. She will then marry a dead prince whom she brings to life. But she must be sent away immediately.'
Deeply saddened, the monarch and queen complied with the order; she was sent away with only a bundle of clothes. She walked over animal tracks until the god Indra felt he had to intervene. He pretended to be a hermit and spoke to her. The hermit knew the destiny of Prince Wichit and Princess Sno and encouraged her.
“Child, take this medicine with you. When you're sick, rub some on your forehead and you'll get better. You can bring a dead person back to life if you mix the medicine with water and rub the dead person with it.' Princess Sno was amazed but kept the medicine.
The medicine works….
Then Princess Sno meets an ugly woman, Kula. She was bitten by a snake and died, but the princess administered the medicine and she lived again! She asked the princess to take her with her as a caretaker, but deep down she wanted to know more about that remedy….
They came to the city of Nakon Noparat and heard of Prince Wichit who had been dead for seven years. She sent everyone out of the sala; only Kula stayed with her. She made a mixture of the medicine and water and rubbed it on the prince. Fumes of snake venom rose from his body. The princess decided to take a fresh bath in the pond and left Kula with her clothes. She saw the prince showing signs of life and carried out her evil plan: she put on the clothes of the princess and told Prince Wichit that she had brought him back to life.
Princess Sno was treated as a maid by Kula, but both Prince Wichit and his parents were on to Kula. Kula had meanwhile banished Sno to a hut and as guardian of ducks and chickens.
To discover the true princess, Prince Wichit would go on a boat trip and he gave Kula fabric and paint to make a royal vane for the prow. Someone from the royal family knew how to do that. Kula didn't know what to do with that and panicked and smashed everything, including the medicine. Sno was still able to collect the leftovers and made the vane for the boat, but Kula took it and she knocked Sno out ……
The intervention from above
But they couldn't raise the anchor! The helmsman knew the answer: the prince should have asked all the good people what present they wanted from him. Kula asked for a red gem for a ring. And so everyone was asked but still the anchor did not rise. 'You forgot someone. Maybe the girl who herds ducks and chickens? That's a nice woman.' And Sno was asked.
'I want to ask Prince Wichit for a nice little house of Sno wood. That will be my present.' The anchor was lifted now and they sailed for the kingdom of Romanasai. No one there knew how to buy the house, so the king was asked. He was sure that it was about his daughter, questioned Prince Wichit minutely and gave him a small house made of Sno wood.
Kula's betrayal came true. Princess Sno finally married her Prince Wichit.
Source: Folk Tales of Thailand (1976). Translation and editing Erik Kuijpers.
Astrologers play a leading role as well as a secret medicine and a malevolent lady-in-waiting. Nakon Noparat is actually Nakhon Noppharat; Nakhon means city, Noparat comes from the Sanskrit word Navaratna and means 'nine gems', nine gems that guarantee prosperity. Noppharat appears in the names of Bangkok.